HC Deb 21 June 1989 vol 155 cc185-6W
Mr. Wall

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many unemployed people studied part-time in further education in each year from 1979 to 1989.

Mr. Cope

Available estimates from labour force surveys show that the number of unemployed people (using the ILO/OECD definition) receiving part-time education in Great Britain was as follows:

Year Thousands
1984 74
1985 68
1986 79
1987 81
11988 70
1 Preliminary estimate

This includes those on a part-time course at university, polytechnic or college, including day release and block release, studying through the Open Tech, Open University or Open College, or studying on another correspondence course. The term "further education" is not specifically used in the LFS question. Data on unemployed persons receiving part-time education were not collected in labour force surveys prior to 1984, on a basis comparable with later years.